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What do some of the year's worst business and political leaders have in common? Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Officer John Thain, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner and North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole share an outsized sense of entitlement, according to leadership consultant John Baldoni. "Leaders need to think well of themselves; otherwise, they wouldn't be capable of leading," he says. "But when that sense of self overwhelms the needs of the organization, they have failed in their duty."

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A list of 50 fast-growing brands, as measured in financial terms and on the strength of customer relations, shows that top brands have an ideal or mission that connects with consumer needs while also informing business strategy, according to research from former Procter & Gamble marketing chief Jim Stengel and agency Millward Brown.

Tyrannosaurus rex, often portrayed in popular culture as a ferocious predator, was really more of a scavenger, scientists say. "I think a lot of it is just people's preconceived idea of what a big, meat-eating dinosaur should do. We see it in 'Jurassic Park.' We see it in the movies. T. rex is a big, mean, nasty thing, and the most honorable thing that a big, mean, nasty thing can do is be a hunter," said John "Jack" Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont.

The Christmas season leads us to be preoccupied with stuff -- acquiring stuff and giving it away -- writes Andrew Simms, and that consumption has a real cost for the environment. "Christmas is just an extreme example of the pervasive false promise at the heart of consumer societies," writes Simms. The drive to acquire more stuff is wrecking humanity's sense of happiness and destroying the environment in the process, he writes.

What do some of the year's worst business and political leaders have in common? Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner and North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole all share an outsized sense of entitlement, according to leadership consultant John Baldoni. "Leaders need to think well of themselves; otherwise they wouldn't be capable of leading," he says. "But when that sense of self overwhelms the needs of the organization, they have failed in their duty."

Brett Favre's return to football is indicative of what happens to many career leaders: They can't succeed in retirement, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith says. After driving their spouses crazy and growing bored, many retired executives look for something to do that gives their lives meaning and happiness.